Apparatus for removably mounting on a drive shaft a part driven by the shaft



25, 1964 J l R. sown: ETAL 3,146,007

APPARATUS FOR REMOVABLY MOUNTING ON A DRIVE SHAFT A PART DRIVEN BY THE SHAFT Filed Nov. 7, 1961 FIG.

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J76 Z4 2 7 d 23 a INVENTORS BY M Afro/9N5) United States Patent "ice 3,146,007 APPARATUS FOR REMOVABLY MOUNTING ON A DRIVE SHAFT A PART DRIVEN BY THE SHAFT Jean Ivan Ragnar Boivie and Peer Tage Borie Hillbom, Stockholm, Sweden, assignors to Aktieholaget Electrolux, Stockholm, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Fiied Nov. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 150,669 Claims priority, application Sweden Nov. 12, 1960 Claims. (Cl. 287-53) Our invention relates to apparatus for removably mounting on a drive shaft a part driven by the shaft.

The object of our invention is to provide an improved apparatus or coupling of simplified construction for renficgably mounting on a drive shaft a part driven by the s t.

Further objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of our invention, reference may be had to the following description taken in connection With the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a motor-driven ventilating fan illustrating a coupling embodying the in vention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a part of the ventilating fanshown in FIG. 1 to illustrate details;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View taken at line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken at line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4 illustrating a modification of a detail.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the invention is shown in connection with a room ventilating unit having an annular housing formed by an inner cylindrical casing 11 and an outer annular member 12, the casing 11 being supported within the annular member 12 by spaced radially disposed Walls 14. The outer member 12 is mounted in any suitable manner in an opening or duct 15 of a wall 16.

The casing 11 and an outwardly flaring hollow tubular part or guide 17, which is fixed to one side of wall 16 in any suitable manner, defines an air passageway within which is centrally disposed a fan 18 formed with blades 19 whose outer edges 20 have the same configuration in an axial direction as the outwardly flared tubular part or guide 17 and are spaced from the latter by a gap 21.

The inner edges of the blades 19 are joined to a cylindrical part 22 having a closed front 23 of semi-spherical shape formed with a central opening 24 and a rear closure plate 25 having an opening 26 therein. The fan 18 is fixed to a shaft 27 of an electric motor 28 in a manner which will be described hereinafter.

The motor 28 is carried within the cylindrical casing 11 in any suitable manner. As shown, the motor 28 may be provided with an annular groove 29 which receives an inwardly extending ridge 30 of an annular resilient member 31 which is disposed about the inner casing 11 and snugly fits on the motor 28.

In accordance with our invention, the fan 18 is removably mounted on the motor shaft 27 by a coupling 10 comprising a hollow member 32 which is fixed to the shaft in any suitable manner and extends through the central openings 24 and 26 of the fan and has an element 33 at its rear end and a latch or catch 34 at its opposite front end for firmly holding the fan 18 therebetween.

The element 33 essentially forms a resilient bridge which is transverse to the axis of the shaft 27 and includes portions 33a at diametrically opposite sides of the shaft which are apertured at 33a to increase the flexi- 3,146,007 Patented Aug. 25, 1964 bility of the bridge. The outer ends of the radially disposed bridge portions 33a are provided with spaced arms 33b which extend toward and bear against the rear closure plate 25 of the fan 18. The hollow member 32 is formed with a pair of spring fingers 34a which normally diverge from one another and are provided with detents 34b at their outer ends which function as the latch or catch 34. The spring fingers 3411 are movable from the positions illustrated in FIG. 2 to the positions shown in FIG. 1 in which the detents 34b overlie the portion of the closed front 23 at the vicinity of the opening 24 therein.

With the hollow member 32 firmly secured to the shaft 27 in any suitable manner, the fan 18 is coupled to the shaft 27 by moving it rearward over the member 32 from the position shown in FIG. 2. The outer surfaces of the detents 34b are beveled, as best shown in FIG. 1, to facilitate movement of the spring fingers 34a toward one another with rearward movement of the fan 18 when the detents 3412 contact the rear closure plate 25 at the central opening 26 therein and subsequently contact the curved front 23 at the central opening 24 therein. After the detents 34b pass through the opening 24 in the front 23, they inherently move or snap to their locked or latched position in FIG. 1. To remove the fan 18 from the shaft 27, the detents 34b are manually pressed toward one another against the outward biasing action of the spring fingers 34a to permit the detents to clear the opening 24 as the fan 18 is being withdrawn from the coupling It When the detents 34b reach the forward face of the rear closure plate 25, parts of the spring fingers 34a will be positioned rearward of the rear closure plate and are accessible so that they can be manually moved toward one another to enable the detents 34b to clear the opening 26 in the rear closure plate.

When the fan 18 is fixed to the motor shaft 27 by our improved coupling 10, the bridge 33, which is resilient in character, is distorted from its normal shape shown in FIG. 2 and is under tension, whereby the fan 18 will be firmly clamped and anchored in position between the bridge 33 and latch 34 and relative angular movement between the fan 18 and shaft 27 during rotation of the latter will be prevented.

Although the coupling 10 of our invention may be made of metal or any other suitable material and formed of several parts connected together in any suitable manner, we prefer to form the coupling 10 from plastic. By forming the coupling 10 from a single body of material like plastic, for example, the construction is simplified.

When the coupling 10 is formed of plastic, the bridge 33 may be reinforced in any suitable manner, as by sections 35 of stiff resilient wire illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The wires 35 include portions 35a and 35b bent at right angles to one another, the portions 35a being embedded in the outer zones of the bridge portions 33a and the portions 35b being embedded in the arms 33]) and extending to the outer extremities of the arms. The portions 351; of the wires are exposed at the outer flat surfaces at the extremities of the arms 33b so that direct contact between the wire portions 35b and the rear closure plate 25 can always be effected when the fan 18 is connected to the coupling 10 irrespective of the extent that the resilient bridge 33 is fiexed from its normal position seen in FIG. 2. With such construction, the resilient bridge 33 firmly grips the rear closure plate 25 of the fan 18 to hold the latter rigidly on the motor shaft 27 and prevent relative angular movement therebetween during rotation of the shaft. This is especially true when the fan 18 is formed of a non-metallic material having surfaces which are at least slightly resilient in character.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modification of our coupling in which wires similar to the wires 35 previously described are provided on the bridge 33. In FIG. the Wire sections 135a are embedded in the outer zones of the bridge portions 33a and the wire sections 135D are embedded in the arms 3315 while the bent regions 135c therebetween are exposed and snugly fit against outer surfaces of the bridge. In other respects, the modification shown in FIG. 5 and just described is similar to and functions like the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and previously described.

It will be observed that the hollow member 32 of our coupling is provided with an enlarged end section 32a to which the resilient bridge 33 is connected. The enlarged end section 32a fits snugly in the opening 26 in the rear closure plate of the fan 18 when the latter is coupled to the motor shaft 27. If desired, the enlarged end section 32a of the hollow member 32 and opening 26 in plate 25 may be of such size that the spring fingers 34a and detents 3415, even though they are in their outermost positions shown in FIG. 2 after clearing the opening 24 in the front 23, can freely pass through the opening 26 in the plate 25 when the fan 18 is being withdrawn from the coupling 10. Also, the closed front 23 of the fan and one of the detents 34b may be formed with a cooperating lug and notch whereby the fan 18 can be positively locked in position and relative angular movement of the fan and motor shaft 27 will be prevented when the fan is being driven by the motor shaft. In view of the foregoing, it will now be understood that the bridge 33 comprises resilient structure which is fixed to and axially immovable on a first end portion 32a of the elongated hollow member 32 which projects axially rearward from the apertured rear closure plate 25 of the fan 18. The resilient structure formed by the bridge 33 is disposed transverse to the axis of the hollow member 32 and extends radially outward from the first end portion 32a of the member 32 and is provided with regions 3315 which are radially spaced from and distributed about the peripheral surface of the hollow member 32.

The detents 34b at the ends of the spring fingers 34a define radially movable catches at a second end portion of the hollow member 32 which projects axially forward through an opening 24 in the closed front 23 of the fan. The catches formed by the detents 3412 are biased radially outward to a first operative position shown in FIG. 1 in which the catches engage the closed front 23 of the fan 18 about the opening 24 therein. The catches 34b are radially movable inward against the bias from the operative position shown in FIG. 1 to a second inoperative position in which the apertured closed front 23 is axially movable past the catches or detents 34b.

The radially spaced regions 33]) of the structure 33 have movement imparted thereto from first unflexed positions shown in FIG. 2 to second flexed positions shown in FIG. 1, such movement of the radially removed regions 33b in a first rearward axially extending direction from the catches or detents 34b being responsive to mounting of the apertured fan 18 on the hollow member 32. In their second flexed positions shown in FIG. 1, the radially spaced regions 33b of the structure 33 are resiliently biased in a second opposite axially extending direction toward the catches or detents 34b to clamp the apertured fan 18 between the structure 33 and the catches 34b.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as pointed out in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In apparatus of the class described, a driving shaft, an apertured part driven by the shaft, means for removably mounting the part on the shaft comprising a member which is fixed to the shaft and rotatable therewith, the member extending through the aperture in the part, the

mounting means including an element at one end of the member and a latch at the opposite end of the member for holding the part therebetween, the latch comprising one or more resilient hooks, the element being resilient in character and including portions at diametrically opposite sides of the shaft, and the portions of the element having projections bearing against the part in directions essentially parallel to the axis of the shaft.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the element is reinforced by lengths of essentially stiff resilient metal wire having first sections transverse to the axis of the shaft and second sections bent at an angle to the first sections and extending substantially to the outer ends of the projections in directions essentially parallel to the axis of the shaft.

3. In apparatus of the class described, a driving shaft, an apertured part driven by the shaft, means for removably mounting the part on the shaft comprising a member which is fixed to the shaft and rotatable therewith, the member extending through the aperture in the part, the mounting means including an element at one end of the member and a latch at the opposite end of the member for holding the part therebetween, and the element comprising a resilient bridge transverse to the axis of the shaft and reinforced by one or more lengths of essentially stiff resilient metal wire having sections extending toward the part in an axially extending direction of the shaft.

4. In apparatus of the class described, a driving shaft, an apertured part driven by the shaft, means for removably mounting the part on the shaft comprising a member which is mounted on the shaft and fixed thereto, the member extending through the aperture in the part and having first and second axially extending end portions, resilient structure fixed to the first end portion of the member and axially immovable thereon, the structure being disposed transverse to the axis of the member and extending radially outward from the first end portion of the member and having radially spaced arms extending axially toward the second end portion of the member and distributed about the peripheral surface of the member, the member having at least one radially movable catch at the second end portion thereof which is biased radially outward to a first operative position in which the catch engages the apertured part at one end thereof and is radially movable inward therefrom against the bias to a second inoperative position in which the apertured part is axially movable past the catch, and the radially spaced arms of the structure having movement imparted thereto from a first position to a second position in a first axially extending direction from the catch responsive to mounting of the apertured part on the member and in the second position being resiliently biased in a second opposite axially extending direction toward the catch to clamp the apertured part between the structure and the catch.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which the member is formed with an axially extending passage within at least the second end portion thereof, the second end portion of the member being axially displaced from the driving shaft and forming a hollow sleeve, the sleeve being split axially to provide at least one resilient finger, the radially movable catch comprising means including the one resilient finger, and the member and the catch and the resilient structure being formed by a single body of plastic material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 892,021 Wirsching June 30, 1908 1,319,429 Spiro Oct. 21, 1919 2,536,149 Anest Jan. 2, 1951 2,622,818 Faris et al Dec. 23, 1952 2,940,781 Erickson June 14, 1960 

1. IN APPARATUS OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED, A DRIVING SHAFT, AN APERTURED PART DRIVEN BY THE SHAFT, MEANS FOR REMOVABLY MOUNTING THE PART ON THE SHAFT COMPRISING A MEMBER WHICH IS FIXED TO THE SHAFT AND ROTATABLE THEREWITH, THE MEMBER EXTENDING THROUGH THE APERTURE IN THE PART, THE MOUNTING MEANS INCLUDING AN ELEMENT AT ONE END OF THE MEMBER AND A LATCH AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE MEMBER FOR HOLDING THE PART THEREBETWEEN, THE LATCH COMPRISING ONE OR MORE RESILIENT HOOKS, THE ELEMENT BEING RESILIENT IN CHARACTER AND INCLUDING PORTIONS AT DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE SHAFT, AND THE PORTIONS OF THE ELEMENT HAVING PROJECTIONS BEARING AGAINST THE PART IN DIRECTIONS ESSENTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE SHAFT. 